No fear for tried-and- true shops

Sunday

Aug 24, 2008 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Tiger's Yogurt has served up dollops of frozen yogurt desserts to crowds of Stocktonians for 27 years, and owner Rhonda Pruden isn't worried that some slick upstarts popular with Tinseltown celebrities might be about to eat her lunch.

Reed Fujii

STOCKTON - Tiger's Yogurt has served up dollops of frozen yogurt desserts to crowds of Stocktonians for 27 years, and owner Rhonda Pruden isn't worried that some slick upstarts popular with Tinseltown celebrities might be about to eat her lunch.

Over the years she's seen the competition come and go and her business has had its ups and downs, but the small shop in a strip mall off Pacific Avenue still pulls them in.

"Every time somebody new goes up, people are going to go try it ... and then they're going to come back here," Pruden said with a laugh.

There are fewer frozen yogurt sellers now than during the 1980s and early '90s, but several besides Tiger's still thrive around Stockton, such as Parkwood's Yogurt Shoppe on Hammer Lane and TCBY Treats, farther north on Pacific.

Pruden believes a well-run yogurt shop, with an eye to serving what the customer demands, will attract its share of business.

So what's her secret?

Hard work and a better-tasting cup of yogurt, said Pruden, although she swore she's never visited competitors' shops nor tasted their products.

"It's what my customers tell me," she said.

Dean Lane of Stockton, who said he's been a Tiger's customer for about a dozen years, agreed.

"I think the yogurt is much, much better than any other at any other place I've tasted," he said. "It's way better."

Customer Kathy Harden, who often brings in some of her 10 grandchildren or children of friends whom she treats like grandkids, said she is a steady customer, visiting about twice a week or so over the last five or six years.

"They have great yogurt. Their prices are reasonable. I always meet nice people in here," she said. "It's a fun place."

Her favorite flavor?

"I love the berry berry."

Staying on top of customers' desires is one of Pruden's aims.

"You've got to give them what they want to bring them in every day," she said.

That means stocking about a dozen flavor choices with six favorites always on the menu - yes, berry berry is one - and the other six changing from day to day and season to season.

She explained fruit flavors sell well in the summer, while coffee flavors do better during cold weather. And pumpkin, candy cane and eggnog are rolled out during the appropriate holidays.

But other than a choice of cones and a limited number of toppings, Tiger's sticks to what it does best: sell frozen yogurt.

Her business has had its ups and downs, Pruden admits, but she's never thought she'd have to close for lack of business; rather the problem has been the demands of running a retail shop with long hours.

"It's not an 8-to-5, Monday-to-Friday thing," she said. She frequently works seven days a week, rarely gets a vacation, and when employees call in sick, she often has to work the counter on short notice to keep the doors open.

Still, the popularity of the shop has been noted by other would-be yogurt purveyors.

"I can't tell you how many people would like to buy this shop," she said. "I've got a list."